The jobs purge will generate savings of £1.7billion at a time when the scandal-hit banking giant revealed it still plans to pay out £1.85bn in bonuses.

Barclays employ more than 1500 workers in Bothwell Street in Glasgow's International Fin- ancial Services District and is recruiting another 600 with the aid of grants from the Scottish Government to support Barclays Capital and Barclays Wealth, which operate within its investments division.

But there were fears that the city workforce was to be targeted when Barclays today announ- ced that the 3700 job losses were to include 1800 staff in corporate and investment banking.

However, a senior bank source today moved quickly to reassure workers in the city by commenting: "Barclays remain committed to Glasgow. This is not a UK jobs cut story."

The source said hundreds of jobs would be cut in Asia while another 1900 would be shed in the bank's high street branches and business arm in Spain, Italy, Portugal and France.

Workers are to be made redundant after Barclays revealed that nearly £2.5bn of cash was being set aside to cover mis-selling compensation while pre-tax profits had risen 26% to £7.05bn.

Bottom-line profits were heavily hit by mis-selling provisions, with £1.6bn put by to cover claims relating to payment protection insurance and £850million for interest rate swaps sold to small firms. Despite the plunge, the bank is paying out bonuses worth almost £2bn. The bonus pot means each employee gets £13,300 on average, with investment banking staff each being paid around £54,100.

Chief executive Anthony Jenkins, who was appointed in August after Bob Diamond quit in the wake of the bank's £290m Libor rigging settlement, insisted bonuses had been reduced after last year's string of reputational blows.

Union leaders today complained that Mr Jenkins was earning 80 times more than his lowest-paid worker.

Unite national officer Dominic Hook said: "We need to see more progress to address the gap between the highest-paid and the lowest-paid staff.

"It's shocking that the starting salary at Barclays is just £13,500 a year, making some workers at the bank eligible to claim tax credits.

"Unite expects the bank to reward its staff fairly for their contribution to its success."

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